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Ryūgū Rena
Character Summary Ryuugu Rena is in the same grade level as Maebara Keiichi. She is known to have an obsession with all things cute and will often try to take those things home with her, whether they're hers to take or not. Such things include the "Kenta-kun" doll, Furude Rika, Hanyuu, and any of the club members in punishment game outfits. She spends a lot of her time 'treasure-hunting' at the town's trash heap. The Higurashi fanbase tends to be uncertain whether the item she found in the town's trash heap (anime), or a tool shed (manga and sound novels) was a cleaver, billhook, cane knife, or a hatchet; the popular term is "cleaver", however the most accurate term would be nata. A nata is a gardening tool used for clearing brush, though it generally does not have the spike on the end that Rena's does. Rena's parents are both fashion designers, and while she was born in Hinamizawa, her family soon moved away to Ibaraki for the sake of her mother's advancing career. Her mother soon started an affair with a co-worker, and Rena met him a couple of times. She found him to be generally agreeable, although she didn't understand the reality of her mother's relationship with him until her mother asked her come away to start a new family with the two of them. Her mother was pregnant with the man's child, and was planning to leave her father. Her father was devastated, and Rena blamed herself. She spurned her mother, saying she never wanted to see her again, and nearly went mad with the guilt. She would cut at herself, especially at and around the neck area, trying to get rid of the "filthy blood" that was left in her by her mother, and imagined it to be filled with maggots. She started to behave in violent and erratic ways. Three of her male classmates were harmed, although there is some implication that they were the instigators of the incident since they decided not to press charges. She also smashed all the windows in her school, and was eventually hospitalized. She later claimed that what broke her out of this state was the Shrine God of Hinamizawa, Oyashiro-sama, who 'said' to Rena: "If you want to live, move back to Hinamizawa; that's the only way you'll be safe." Rena and her father moved back to Hinamizawa, and Rena, whose birth name was "Reina", changed her name as a part of her new start (though English speaking viewers may find the difference negligible aside from spelling). According to the Tsumihoroboshi-hen ''TIPS, the other purpose of removing the "i" in her name was, as interpreted by Rena herself, to "remove the i-cky things" (iyana koto いやなこと) (later she realizes that "the i-ncredible things (ii koto いいこ) also start with an i....."). Ironically, Mamiya Rina and Rena's first names, identical with the exception of the vowel, could be considered the two halves of the name "Reina", in which Rena is the good, untainted half of the name and Rina is the epitome and physical existence of all the "i-cky things" and the bad experiences in Ibaraki. Her experience with Oyashiro-sama allowed her to bond with Hojo Satoshi when he started experiencing similar problems. In ''Tsumihoroboshi-hen, Mamiya Rina and Hojo Teppei, both scam artists, target her father. In an attempt to protect her father and herself, Rena ends up fighting and killing Rina, and although it begins as self-defense, she later leads Teppei out to the junk yard and kills him as well. Not long after this Takano Miyo entrusts her with her scrapbook. Takano dies shortly after, but after reading the book Rena begins to question the nature of Oyashiro-sama and the honesty of her friends. She takes the school building and those inside hostage, and only the intervention of Keiichi stops her from making another horrible mistake and becoming another fatality of the Hinamizawa syndrome. Physical Description Rena is a redhead with short hair in the back in an angled cut with long sides, and her bangs part on the left of her forehead. Her eyes are blue and droop at the ends. On her school days, she wears what appears to be a typical sailor fuku, with a yellow ribbon, and white socks with brown shoes. On her free days, she wears a white dress with a purple bow tie and sash, complete with "her favorite" white cap. She also wears thigh-high black socks with brown knee-high boots. Rena's cap was used as a message to Mion in Taraimawashi-hen and a message to Satoko in Yakusamashi-hen. In the first episode of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, Rena appears as an adult in a purple business suit. Personality Rena seems to have a sweet and friendly nature, although situations in the story can cause that to change dramatically; in Onikakushi-hen, in particular, she is shown to react strongly to one of Keiichi's remarks with "Uso da! (You Liar!)". She occasionally comes off as a bit of an airhead, but is actually rather intuitive, especially when it comes to her friends. Along with her intuition, Rena is shown to be capable of becoming quite frightening and dangerously hostile when she is determined, especially in ''Minagoroshi-hen''. She was able to easily intimidate both the village council and the Child Welfare staff moreso than Keiichi could through her eyes and words, rarely losing emotional control like Keiichi and Shion did frequently. During the last Watanagashi meeting of the village council, Rena got into a violent fistfight with one of the elders and even threatened to crush Sonozaki Oryo's head if Oryo refused to help Satoko. Keiichi often calls her the "quiet, blue flame that burns silently", referring to her capability of becoming incredibly powerful when push comes to shove, despite her normally girly and seemingly-airheaded personality; in situations like such, Rena will always be the instigator and the most blunt offensive of the fight, as observed in many instances, such as by Shion in Meakashi-hen ''and Minagoroshi-hen ("I wonder how you were in Ibaraki. You don't even hesitate to attack people!"), Keiichi in ''Watanagashi-hen, and Rika in'' Minagoroshi-hen''. Rena also has the ability to fiercefully and successfully retort in a very sharp and biting way when involved in a heated debate or compromise. Mion describes Rena, and Rena is often portrayed, as being hostile towards people who make light of or express disbelief in Oyashiro's Curse. This is due to her own experience with it and her (correct) assumption that Oyashiro-sama physically exists. However, in Tsumihoroboshi-hen, ''Rena seems to completely contradict her strong beliefs and throw them away in a matter of seconds after Takano Miyo handed Rena some scrapbooks about the existence of parasites causing the Hinamizawa Syndrome origination from an alien spaceship. Why this occured so quickly is unknown, especially when the Syndrome is technically supposed to stimulate doubt in a general sense. On the other hand, she, like Rika, often empathizes with and is able to identify people who are afflicted with advanced symptoms of Hinamizawa Syndrome. It is implied that she feels guilty for not listening to Satoshi's problems before he disappeared, and asks Keiichi to tell her his problems, but since he already is afflicted with it he hallucinates that she is threatening him. Rena appears to be very perceptive, as she is able to somewhat understand people just by looking at their face. She does admit directly that she can easily "tell if ___'s telling the truth or not...just by looking into his eyes" (Minagoroshi-hen). She's also able to form detailed and eerily accurate hypotheses of crime scenes based on evidence she observed. Rena possesses a signature "Kawaii!" Mode, which is instigated when she is embarressed or when she finds something cute (though, she can forcefully enter "Kawaii!" Mode when she feels the need to at any time, even without encountering the two situations listed). Once she enters "Kawaii!" Mode, Rena's senses are heightened to an extreme extent, making her inhumanely agile and strong. This causes frequent trouble for many of the club members, who have to expend all of their energy to barely control her; Keiichi and Mion have been knocked out cold a large number of times by Rena's flurries of punches, while Rika and Satoko have been kidnapped often (especially when they're wearing club punishment outfits). Satoko and Rika have learned to use Rena's "Kawaii!" Mode switch to their advantages; by either crying to her or posing in an adorable fashion, they can manipulate whom Rena knocks out or how Rena can support them, thus giving them a huge advantage in eliminating competition easily in club games. Rena has a sort of secret base in the trash heap: an old van that has been hollowed out filled with the sort of things she likes, which she sometimes retreats to when she's distressed. In her words, no one else knows about her secret spot, and it is close enough to the middle of the dump that no one outside can hear anything. During the first episode of ''Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai, ''Rena appears to have been scarred for life from a great amount of dispair, suffering, depression and anxiety after being one of the few people who survived the events that occurred in Hinamizawa (in the post-''Tsumihoroboshi-hen world). Relationships Maebara Keiichi Rena and Keiichi's relationship is debated by many. Keiichi and Rena are very close friends. They face off against each other in many of the Club's Activities, most notably the water gun face off. They also battle on top of the school's roof in Tsumihoroboshi-hen. Keiichi also likes to "flirt", or make fun of her, while they walk to school together. Rena herself is shown to care about Keiichi quite a lot. Sonozaki Shion considers Rena to be Sonozaki Mion's rival. In the last episode of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei, Rena confesses her feelings for him, although she thought that she was under influence of the magatamas (However, Hanyuu reacts to this as her real confession to Keiichi, while Rika is disgusted). Sonozaki Mion Mion and Rena are, and have been, best friends since the start of the series. When Rena was upset about her father and was thinking about murder, she went to Mion, who helped her decide against it. Also, Rena was the only one besides Sonozaki Shion whom Mion confessed her feelings for Keiichi to, in regards to the doll incident in Watanagashi-hen. Furude Rika Rena and Rika have been close friends since the very start of the series. On many occasions Rena wants to take Rika home (mostly when in a punishment game outfit or her shrine maiden outfit). Rika sees Rena as a very kind and knowledgeable person throughout the series. However, when Rena took the school captive in Tsumihoroboshi-hen, Rika stands in her way while Keiichi is trying to stop Rena from destroying the school. Hojo Satoko Rena and Satoko have been close friends since the very start of the series. On many occasions, Rena has wanted to take Satoko home (mostly when in a punishment game outfit). Rena is shown to care dearly for Satoko, and is very concerned about her when she is being abused by Teppei. In ''Tsukiotoshi-hen'', she even agrees to kill Teppei along with Shion and Keiichi Takano Miyo Rena and Miyo have a strange relationship, especially during the last episode of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei, when she was temporarily in love with Miyo, because of the magatama. Rena as an adult looks remarkably like Miyo, as seen in the first episode of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai. Trivia * Rena seems to be the signature character of the series, as she is featured more than once during the first season opening, as well as appearing on most of the album or game covers. She is also the only one that appears in her adult form 24 years later. * She has the second most expanded-upon backstory, behind only Furude Rika. * In the Japanese version in the last episode (ep 26) Rika says to Rena "Come at me cleaver girl" while in the dubbed version, she says "Come at me hachet girl" Although in this miswording swap, it's still confirmed a hooked cleaver. * There has been speculation about Rena's real name "Reina" that, if pronounced correctly, "Rei" would mean 0 and "Na" (from "Nana") would mean 7, referencing the author's name Ryukishi07. This strengthens the theory of Rena being intentionally made by 07th Expansion the most signature character of the series. It was also responsible for something called "Rena Day", specifically July 7th 2007 (07/07/07), where 4chan's anime boards and Japanese image threads were flooded with massive Rena picture spam. * In addition to the 07 implication of Rena's name, it has been pointed out that both her real name and her nickname are the same as the Final Fantasy V character Lenna Charlotte Tycoon's Japanese names (in the game, Lenna's name is "Rena", in which the kanji for both Lenna's and Rena's names is レナ. In the FFV anthology, Lenna's name is "Reina"). Live Action Airi Matsuyama plays Ryuugu Rena in the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni live-action movie series. Images File:Re.jpg|Rena as she appears in the sound novels File:1240272297_2575_full.jpg|Rena's appearance in the first season of the anime File:Adultrena.jpg|Rena (38 years old) 486954.jpg|Rena in her school uniform 305288.jpg|Rena in her usual clothes Rena Ref.gif 784322-45345_large.png|Rena licking ice cream (Popsicle) rena_kana.jpg|Rena wondering Sad Rena.png|Sad Rena in Minagoroshi-hen USODA.jpg|[[USO DA!!]] Higurashinikairenacleaver.jpg|Rena with her hooked cleaver 003Km_Rena_DragAssault.JPG|Rena ready for war. Category:Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Antagonists Category:The Club